In a spectacular example of failing to read the room — or, at least, the calendar — former Love Island UK winner Amber Gill has announced that she thinks an LGBTQIA+ version of the mega-popular reality series would be a bad idea… Just as Pride Month begins.
Gill, who won the fifth season of the show back in 2019, was asked during a chat with RadioTimes.com if she thinks Love Island needs to make any changes in order to freshen up its format as it heads into its incoming tenth season this summer. Gill admitted that she’s fine with things as they are and, in particular, isn’t part of the growing call for there to be some kind of “LGBTQ+ Love Island.” As Gill explained:
“Not anything in particular for me. I know there’s a lot of people that say they would like to see a sort of LGBTQ+ Love Island. I think it would be hard to cast for something like that. I think that it’s hard in itself to cast it now and I think adding that in would make it even harder.”
According to Gill, the best move would be to simply create a whole new show with a different format that could be built around LGBTQ+ contestants. She continued:
“I think it is a possibility, but I think if that was a show, it should be a different show altogether because then I think it makes it so different from what it is.”
Gill — who was romantically linked to Greg O’Shea during her Love Island tenure but is now in a relationship with Arsenal soccer star Jen Beattie — isn’t the only person involved in the series who has spoken out about the apparent issues in increasing the number of gay islanders. In 2021, ITV commissioner Amanda Stavri admitted that it actually presents a “logistical difficulty” when it comes to making sure each contestant has an “equal choice” in potential romances. As Stavri put it:
“I think the main challenge is regarding the format of Love Island. There’s a sort of logistical difficulty, because although Islanders don’t have to be 100 per cent straight, the format must sort of give [the] Islanders an equal choice when coupling up.”
In that regard, Gill’s point about perhaps an entirely different Love Island-style show being created specifically for LGBTQ+ contestants might actually make sense. Even if the timing of her comments could’ve been a little better.
Love Island UK season 10 starts this June 5.